


nightmares

by HappinessIsBlau



Category: Batgirl (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen, implied panic attacks, sleep paralysis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-26
Updated: 2014-03-26
Packaged: 2018-01-17 02:50:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1371205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappinessIsBlau/pseuds/HappinessIsBlau
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, Steph has nightmares.</p>
            </blockquote>





	nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in a Steph mood today so I wrote a little something. I mentioned it in the tags but just in case -- there's kind-of-implied panic attacks and mentioned sleep paralysis and if that bothers you, please take warning. I don't think it's too bad but that might not be someone's cup of tea and the last thing I want to do is to trigger someone!

Sometimes, Steph has nightmares.

Sometimes she has nightmares about losing someone close to her. About not catching Tim’s hand as he falls or being just a little too late to save Cass from a situation that could have been resolved if backup had come _just a moment quicker_ or about Damian, about how she’s sure he’ll grow up and sell his soul to be Gotham’s forever knight in place of his father or about any combination of others in any scenario her brain concocts to torture her on a night where sleep is more of a curse than a blessing.

She’ll wake up and her whole body will be tingling, every inch of her skin will feel all static-y and gross but she won’t be able to move, she’ll just lay there in the darkness of her room and not dare to open her eyes until her sleep paralysis -- the only kind that always follows her nightmares-- wears off.

She’ll slowly uncurl from her sleep-position and grope in the darkness for her phone, hitting a button to wake it from its charge-sleep and hesitantly reaching her other hand out from the protective warmth of her blankets to pull the cord gently from the port. She’ll check the time – always an hour or two after she first laid down, 3 or 4 in the morning, and she’ll send whoever she dreamt of a quick text, a simple “u ok?” some nights-- and those are the nights she wakes up and she knows they’re safe, she _believes_ they’re safe, but there are other nights that she’s convinced she’s had a prophetic vision or something and those are the nights she’ll send someone three paragraphs worth of text messages.

Cass will text back immediately because there’s no way her keen hearing won’t pick up on whatever sound her phone makes and she’ll know that it’s important because she’s Cass and she knows everything. Tim will text back or call if it’s an especially bad nightmare. When they were an item, he even came to her house and sat with her for a while and let her hold him for as long as she needed, but she knows he’s busy now with other things. Damian will scoff and used to ignore her messages but if his phone is on, he will text back in Arabic. She can’t understand but at least she knows he’s okay. Most of her friends are in the same game she is so they’re all fairly understanding, but as mean as it sounds, Steph would rather be woken up during the night to answer a frantic call or text than she would deal with her own aggressive nightmares.


End file.
